


Thank you Hazel

by Faeriepool



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Not Canon Compliant - The House of Hades
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 13:24:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5376851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faeriepool/pseuds/Faeriepool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the Doors of Death were a literal pair of doors? What if you needed someone on both sides to close them? Assumed character death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing. Please don't hate me for killing him.
> 
> Please be aware that I wrote this before Nico's sexuality or crush on Percy was canon. As such, I wrote the relationships between the children of the Big 3 from more of an extended family pov. And if there's one thing we know about Percy, it's that family (blood or chosen) mean everything to him.

Against all odds, Percy and Annabeth survived the horrors of Tartarus and managed to fight their way to the Doors of Death. After a long, brutal battle with the titan Hyperion, they made it through. Their friends were waiting for them on the other side; battered and bruised, but alive none the less. As soon as they were through, Hazel reached out with the very last of her magical reserves and pulled a thick slab of obsidian down in front of the Doors, leaving her drained. With a new sense of security, relieved hugs went exchanged and the teens began treating injuries with what little ambrosia and nectar they had left. Exhausted, Hazel and Annabeth dozed together against the far wall, curled into Frank who had turned into a large Saint Bernard to act as a pillow for the weakened girls, while the others huddled a few feet away, trying to find a solution to the Doors.

“Look,” Nico huffed exasperatedly, “I wish there was another way to go about this, but this is the only way. The Doors must be closed by two people working in tandem, one on either side of the Doors, and we don’t have one of our own on the other side at the moment. One of us will have to do it.”

Everyone was quiet after that, all trying to work up the courage to volunteer despite their instincts telling them all to get the hell out of dodge and live to fight another day.

“I’ll do it.” Percy said quietly after a tense minute.

“What? No! Do you know what that would do to Annabeth? To all of us?” Jason whispered harshly as soon as the words left Percy’s mouth.

“Who then?” Percy demanded, whipping around to face the son of Jupiter, “You, cousin? If not you, who will it be? Piper, Leo, who?

Jason rose to defend himself, but before he had a chance, Percy lunged across the circle and hauled him up by his collar, growling menacingly in his ear,  
“Don’t you even dare suggest Nico or Hazel. They may be children of the Underworld, but I wouldn’t put my worst enemy through Tartarus, let alone family.”

Jason quickly scrambled away from Percy, disturbed by his dark expression and the dead, flat tone in his voice. The normally jovial and sarcastic teen was glaring at him, his face a mask of fury and determination, eyes nearly glowing with the depth of emotion held confined in their depths.

The discussion had risen from a quiet planning session to a roaring argument by this time and had woken Hazel. Quietly disentangling herself from Annabeth, she whispered for Frank to stay and watch over to still slumbering daughter of Athena before making her way over to the group, and kneeling between her brother and cousins. Placing a gentle hand on Percy’s arm, Hazel tilted her head to look him straight in the eye. As she began to speak, the other teens stopped arguing to listen to what the rather quiet, reserved girl had to say. “Percy,” she asked, her voice whisper soft and drenched in emotion, “is there truly no other way?”

Deflating, he answered hollowly, “You heard Nico. This is the only way. One of us has to be on the other side to close the Doors, and I can’t let one of you do it, I can’t.”

“Alright then.” Hazel sighed, resigning herself to the situation. The thought of losing more family hurt her, but there would be time for pain later if they succeeded. Right now, they needed a plan. “We’re going to need to time this perfectly. A soon as I move the stone, monsters are going to try to get through, possibly Titans. We’re going to need to distract them long enough for Percy to get through the Doors and help me close them. If Nico can summon some of the dead, they should give Percy enough time to get through. Jason and Frank, you’re going to have to hold back Annabeth because we all know she’s not going to be happy about this. If you can use your Charmspeak to keep Nico from falling over, Piper, he should be able to keep the skeletons coming until Percy’s in position. That leaves Leo to help me with the Doors. Percy is certainly strong enough to push both, but my arms are limp noodles in comparison, so I’ll need your help.”

Looking around the circle, Hazel’s proposal was met with silence. Percy and Nico looked proud of her, while Leo gave her a small nod, looking resigned to the situation, but Jason and Piper were staring at her in shock and horror. Confused and suddenly self-conscious, Hazel stammered out, “What? I know I’m no Child of Athena, but I did go to Camp Jupiter. It’s not possible to live there without picking up at least some basic battle strategy.”

“The plan’s brilliant, but are you insane?!?” Piper said, breaking out of her shock. “How can you even think about letting him do this?!? It’s suicidal!”

“Cause he’s Percy. He’s resolved to do this, and knowing him, he’ll do it with or without our help. I don’t want to lose him anymore than the rest of you, but this is the way it has to be. I think I will have enough energy to move the rock in a couple of hours. Rest up while you can.”

With that, she stood gingerly and walked back over to Annabeth and Frank. Seeing through her calm mask right away, Frank changed back and pulled Hazel into his lap, wrapping her in his comforting and warm embrace once he’d passed Sleeping Beauty off to her self-sacrificing Prince Charming. Normally he’d be too worried about Nico castrating him to pull such a bold move in public, but he figured he was safe for the time being. Leo was sitting beside Nico in a comfortable silence, warmed by the fire Leo had lit to light the dark, dank chamber. Jason and Piper were huddled together away from the firelight and all that could be heard from the pair was a constant stream of hushed reassurances and sniffles. Which they came from mattered not to the demigods, they’d all seen too much in their short lives to see tears as a weakness.


	2. Chapter 2

It was time. They had spent the last two hours resting and trying to ignore the sense of doom that pervaded the chamber, but now it was time to put Hazel’s plan to action. As Hazel and Leo walked towards the stone blocking the Doors of Death, Leo turned to Hazel and asked something that had been bothering him since she’d laid out her plan, “Why me?”

Confused, Hazel turned to stare at him, “What do you mean?”

“Why me? The other boys are stronger than me, and Frank would be better for moral support. I get why you didn’t want Piper, she would never be able to do this but, why me?”

“Oh. Why you?” She mused softly, “I guess it’s because you won’t balk.” Seeing his continued confusion, she elaborated. “You’re right, the guys are both stronger and could easily pull the Doors, but we all know Annabeth is going to fight like her life depends on it once she realises what’s going on and it’s going to take both Jason and Frank to hold her back. Mostly though, because I think you understand the best. You’ve dealt with death before and made your peace with it. While they’re used to death in battle, they don’t really understand the sacrifice play like you and I do. I want you beside me the most, because you understand.”

Staring gobsmacked at the quiet daughter of Pluto, Leo felt like he was seeing the real her for the first time. Giving her a small smile, he reached for her hand and walked with her towards the Doors, ready to do his part.

Meanwhile, Frank and Jason stood in front of Annabeth and Percy with their backs turned, trying to give the couple some privacy as the Son of the Sea woke his Wise Girl.

“Hey.” He said as she started to stir. “Come on, you got to get up now, Wise Girl. It’s time to close the Doors.”

“Huh. You guys found a solution? How long have I been out?” Annabeth asked as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

“Only a couple hours. Hazel came up with a plan while you were sleeping. We need you to stay back here with Jason and Frank though.”

“What’s the plan?”

Feeling nervous, Percy tried to distract her. “Close the Doors of course. Then all we have to do is take down Gaea and stop our friends from killing each other. Piece of cake.”

Suspicious of his nonchalant attitude, Annabeth started to pick at him. “Okay, just what does this plan entail? What do Jason, Frank and I need to do?”  
“You’re rear guard. You’re still pretty tuckered out, so you’re going to stay back here and take out anything that gets past the rest of us while we close the Doors.”

Unwilling to be so easily pacified, Annabeth’s sharp grey eyes searched Percy’s face and not liking what she saw, she started to sit up, getting right in his face. “And I need two guards to do that? Bull.” She said. “I’d normally trust you Seaweed Brain, but this ‘plan’ of yours stinks worse than the Camp’s Pegasus stable. What’s really going on?”

Giving up on trying to hoodwink the sharpest girl in Camp, Percy pulled her forward for a last, chaste kiss, before looking into her eyes, said, “Wise Girl, no matter what happens, I love you so much. You are the single, best thing that has ever happened to me. For the record, Chiron told me what the tossed apple meant after our first quest. I was going to tell my Mom and make it official when we got back to Camp.” With that, Percy gave each of the Roman boys a nod and walked over to Nico and Piper in the middle of the chamber, trying his hardest to ignore the ruckus behind him as Annabeth tried to force her way past Frank and Jason, demanding answers.

“You ready?” He asked as he neared the pair, “I don’t know how long it’s going to take to close the Doors. Can you keep the undead coming?”  
Looking over at Piper for conformation, Nico nodded. “We tested Hazel’s Charmspeak theory out while you were waking Annabeth. Gives me a real energy boost. I’ll be fine.”

Giving Piper a pointed look, Percy turned to Nico and stooped slightly to look his younger cousin in the eyes. “When this is over,” he said quietly, “can you be the one to tell my Mom? I know it’s unfair to ask you to be the bearer of bad news, but I think she would take it best coming from you.” Pausing for a moment, he blurted out, “She thinks of you as family, you know, she and Paul, same as I do. When this is over, please don’t push everyone away and fade like you were before. I know you don’t like the Camps, but you have Hazel to look after now. I’m sure Mom would love to meet her. Just please? For me.”

Looking up for the first time since Percy started talking Nico nodded and grasped his forearm tightly in a warrior’s greeting. “I will, cousin.”

Stepping up to the slab of rock blocking the Doors of Death, Percy took out Riptide, gazing at the glowing bronze blade that had saved his life so many times before hardening his expression and glancing over his shoulder at Hazel, “I’m ready.”

Tears already pooling in her eyes, Hazel nodded and extended her hand, concentrating on the rock in front of her. After a moment, the slab jolted to the side, slamming into the chamber wall and raising a cloud of dust. The first thing any of them registered once the stone dust settled was the deafening roar of an untold amount of monsters as they surged towards the Doors.

Taking a deep breath, Percy shot forward into Tartarus. Catching sight of the advancing horde of monsters he yelled over his shoulder, “Piper, Nico, I could use some backup!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, an army of skeletons in tattered military uniforms and mismatched, dented armour clawed their way out of the ground and stopped the horde in its tracks as they fought to break through the line of surprisingly ferocious bones. Sure that he wouldn’t be overrun before he finished his job, Percy turned back to the group in Epirus and nodded to Hazel and Leo before grabbing the Doors and pushing them with all his might, though they didn’t move until the other two started pulling as well.

Just before the Doors closed, Hazel stopped pulling and looking Percy in the eyes asked, “Are you sure? Once we close the Doors there’s no coming back.”  
Looking over her head, Percy saw Annabeth screaming and fighting tooth and nail against the now bruised and bloodied Jason and Frank. Closer to the Doors, Nico was leaning heavily on Piper as he strained to sustain the undead army, the slight girl keeping the Ghost Prince conscious with her words alone. 

If anyone ever said Aphrodite’s children were weak around him again, he’d laugh in their face. Love’s children were downright scary when they wanted to be, not that he was likely to talk to anyone who would not try to kill him after today anyways.

Giving Leo a nod, he looked down at Hazel, offering her a small, sincere smile, “I’m ready”, he repeated. Smiling weakly through her tears, she grabbed her Door again and helped the two boys close them, hopefully forever. Just before the Doors closed with an ominously final thump, Hazel was able to make out the Sea Prince’s last, whispered words, “Thank you Hazel.”

As soon as the Doors closed, Annabeth stopped struggling and slumped against the Roman boys before collapsing to the ground in tears. Turning away from the now plain wall of stone, Hazel clasped Leo’s arm in a brief show of solidarity before walking over to Annabeth.

“It’s not fair!” the normally composed daughter of Athena wailed hoarsely through her tears as Hazel neared her, matted blonde curls obscuring her tear streaked face. Kneeling beside her, Hazel pulled Annabeth into a fierce hug as she released all the pain and anguish she had been hiding since she laid out Percy’s death sentence nearly three hours ago. Pulling back to look Annabeth in the eye, the golden-eyed girl chocked through her tears as the rest of the demigods joined them on the ground in their grief, “No, it’s not fair, not at all.”


End file.
